diff --git a/t/t2008-checkout-subdir.sh b/t/t2008-checkout-subdir.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..f78945ed8e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t2008-checkout-subdir.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2007 David Symonds
+
+test_description='git checkout from subdirectories'
+
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+test_expect_success setup '
+
+	echo "base" > file0 &&
+	git add file0 &&
+	mkdir dir1 &&
+	echo "hello" > dir1/file1 &&
+	git add dir1/file1 &&
+	mkdir dir2 &&
+	echo "bonjour" > dir2/file2 &&
+	git add dir2/file2 &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git commit -m "populate tree"
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'remove and restore with relative path' '
+
+	(
+		cd dir1 &&
+		rm ../file0 &&
+		git checkout HEAD -- ../file0 &&
+		test "base" = "$(cat ../file0)" &&
+		rm ../dir2/file2 &&
+		git checkout HEAD -- ../dir2/file2 &&
+		test "bonjour" = "$(cat ../dir2/file2)" &&
+		rm ../file0 ./file1 &&
+		git checkout HEAD -- .. &&
+		test "base" = "$(cat ../file0)" &&
+		test "hello" = "$(cat file1)"
+	)
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'checkout with empty prefix' '
+
+	rm file0 &&
+	git checkout HEAD -- file0 &&
+	test "base" = "$(cat file0)"
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'checkout with simple prefix' '
+
+	rm dir1/file1 &&
+	git checkout HEAD -- dir1 &&
+	test "hello" = "$(cat dir1/file1)" &&
+	rm dir1/file1 &&
+	git checkout HEAD -- dir1/file1 &&
+	test "hello" = "$(cat dir1/file1)"
+
+'
+
+# This is not expected to work as ls-files was not designed
+# to deal with such.  Enable it when ls-files is updated.
+: test_expect_success 'checkout with complex relative path' '
+
+	rm file1 &&
+	git checkout HEAD -- ../dir1/../dir1/file1 && test -f ./file1
+
+'
+
+test_expect_failure 'relative path outside tree should fail' \
+	'git checkout HEAD -- ../../Makefile'
+
+test_expect_failure 'incorrect relative path to file should fail (1)' \
+	'git checkout HEAD -- ../file0'
+
+test_expect_failure 'incorrect relative path should fail (2)' \
+	'( cd dir1 && git checkout HEAD -- ./file0 )'
+
+test_expect_failure 'incorrect relative path should fail (3)' \
+	'( cd dir1 && git checkout HEAD -- ../../file0 )'
+
+test_done